San Diegans Race to Black Friday Deals
It was a buying bonanza out in San Diego for Black Friday. Shoppers have been eagerly anticipating the best deals on big-ticket items throughout the week.
According to The National Retail Federation (NRF), Black Friday maintains its status as the number one day for shopper turnout. The NRF projects that 131.7 million shoppers will visit retailers both in person and online on Friday, in contrast to Cyber Monday, which is estimated to attract around 72.3 million shoppers.
Additionally, the NRF forecasts that 183 million shoppers will be hitting the stores this holiday season, marking an increase of approximately one million shoppers compared to last year.
At Best Buy in Mission Valley, many shoppers were seen walking away with deals. However, not everyone was satisfied. Dalton Williams expressed disappointment as he aimed to buy a Switch console or an iPad. “I think it’s kind of a bust this year,” Williams remarked. His friend, Landon Jones, echoed his sentiment, stating, “We ended up walking away because it was cheaper on Amazon.”
While Williams and Jones may not have found what they were looking for, others like Wendy Delgado and Laura Kamani were successful in their hunt for deals, scoring a 65″ Class Select Series 4K Smart RokuTV. “It was $300 for a 65-inch TV,” Delgado shared, while Kamani mentioned, “I needed a new TV, and I saw this was a pretty good deal.”
According to Best Buy’s website, Delgado and Kamani saved $130, with the original price listed as $429.99. This deal was available only until Saturday.
Shoppers are taking advantage of significant savings that are setting new records this holiday season, as reported by the NRF. Sales are up this year in comparison to last year, with shoppers spending about $955.6 billion between November and December last year. This year, the NRF estimates that spending will reach between $979.5 billion and $989 billion in total.
Alan Gin, an economics professor at UC San Diego, attributes the thriving economy to a decrease in the inflation rate. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the annual inflation rate for the United States was measured at 2.6% for the 12 months ending October 2024. “People were concentrating solely on the inflation number, but they didn’t realize that we had pretty good wage growth as well,” Gin explained.
Moreover, Gin noted that shoppers have more disposable income now, thanks to recent interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, which lowered rates to around 4.5% in September, compared to the yearly average of approximately 5.5%. “I think the ability to renegotiate loans on credit cards, maybe even on your mortgage, would just then free up more money for people to spend,” he added.
